Single Mothers,Nonresident Fathers,and Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Development: Social Support,Psychological Well-Being,and Parenting Quality

ABSTRACT

Using data from two waves of a short-term longitudinal study, the influences of mothers’ social support with respect to parenting from nonresident fathers and significant others on behavioral outcomes among poor and near-poor preschool-aged Black children were examined. The sample consisted of 99 single Black mothers—each with a preschool-aged child (ages 3 and 5 years old, respectively, at Time 1 and Time 2)—who were current and former welfare recipients. Results revealed protective effects of nonresident fathers’ presence in the context of mothers’ parenting stress and depressive symptoms at Time 1 that appeared to operate through decreases in the negative influences of these variables on the children's development of behavior problems 1.5 to 2 years later. Greater availability of instrumental support from significant others, including nonresident fathers, was associated with more adequate parenting at Time 1, and through the latter, with fewer child behavior problems at Time 2. Implications of these findings for program and policy interventions are discussed. Nonresident fathers are described in the Appendix.     

Research Review: Teenage pregnancy and parenthood: the role of fathers

From the research available in America and Britain it would appear that the men who father children by teenage mothers tend to be a few years older than their teenage partners, although a minority may be significantly older. With regard to the factors associated with fatherhood there are striking similarities to the literature on teenage mothers. Like teenage mothers young fathers tend to be from low socio‐economic backgrounds, experience lower educational attainment and fewer employment opportunities than their childless peers. Similarly they tend to experience greater psychological and emotional difficulties and may have a history of delinquent behaviour. These young fathers are involved in a variety of relationships with teenage mothers, few of which result in marriage and many of which result in the breakdown of cohabitation or the termination of the relationship. This pattern of increasing relationship breakdown over time is related to decreasing paternal contact with children in both America and Britain. Often conflictual relationships with teenage mothers or maternal grandparents and a lack of financial resources are cited by young fathers as barriers to their continued involvement and contact with their children. However, the mothers are much more likely to cite paternal disinterest as the reason for a lack of paternal involvement and there is some indication that mothers and fathers have different views on the level of practical involvement expected from fathers. While most of quantitative data on the subject provides a rather negative picture of paternal involvement, qualitative research highlights how many young fathers genuinely want to be involved with their children and would have more contact and input if they could. While much less is known about the support provided to young fathers in comparison with their female counterparts, there is some suggestion that the support and role expectations provided by the paternal grandmother may influence how involved young fathers are. There is also some indication that a sizeable minority of young men may receive no such support from their family and may also be treated with hostility or ignored by the maternal grandparents. Young fathers also report limited or no contact with midwives, health visitors and social workers.     

Social work and the shadow father: lessons for engaging fathers in Northern Ireland

The legislative framework of social work practice has consistently highlighted the need to work in partnership with parents, with far‐reaching implications for families. However, the importance of engaging fathers in social work practice is an issue that has received limited attention within academic debate and research. A research study undertaken across six family centres, investigated paternal involvement in family centre social work in Northern Ireland. The study involved 46 semi‐structured interviews with social workers, fathers and mothers. This paper presents the views of 22 social workers on the barriers to paternal involvement in family centre interventions. A range of factors were identified which served to inhibit or promote engagement of fathers. There were substantially more deterrents than promoters, a clear indicator of the problematic nature of paternal involvement. The findings highlight that both attitudes and practices of social workers influence the engagement of fathers. Recommendations drawn from the findings are presented for the development of father – inclusive social work practices and research.     

Becoming a Dad: Employment Trajectories of Married,Cohabiting, and Nonresident Fathers*

Objectives. This article considers how becoming a father affects men's employment levels and tests whether the effects of fatherhood differ by the relationship of the father to the child's mother at the time of the birth. Methods. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to fit growth curve models of new fathers' employment trajectories for the first five years after they become fathers. Results. Prior to becoming a father, married men worked more hours per week and more weeks per year than cohabiting and nonresident fathers. By five years after the birth, differences in employment between unmarried and married fathers had diminished. Conclusions. The transition to fatherhood is associated with an increase in employment for unmarried fathers but is not associated with significant changes in employment for married fathers.     

Child Support, Fatherhood, and Marriage: Findings from the First 5 Years of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

In this article, we review what has been learned to date from the first 5 years of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study about child support, fatherhood, and marriage. The article first describes the parents' circumstances at the time of the child's birth, then examines the trajectories of parents' relationships (with each other and others), fathers' financial contributions and other indicators of fathers' involvement with their children 5 years later; and finally reviews what has been learned about the effect of child support enforcement on these three aspects of families' lives. We find that most unmarried parents are either cohabiting or romantically involved at the time of the child's birth, but are a distinctly disadvantaged group as compared with married parents. Five years later, most of these parents are no longer romantically involved, however, most of the fathers are still seeing their children on a regular basis, and about half are contributing either formally or informally to their support. Strong child support enforcement appears to increase formal and decrease informal support from fathers, reduce marriage among parents, and have a weak positive effect on father involvement. More research is necessary to understand whether these findings are robust over time and across samples of unmarried parents.     

Predictors of Stability and Change in Private Safety Nets of Unmarried Mothers

ABSTRACT

Although the importance of social supports for single mothers in times of crisis is widely recognized, little is known about the stability of such “private safety nets” over time, as children age and maternal and household characteristics change. This study uses multilevel models and four waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study to describe trajectories of social support perceptions for 3,065 unmarried mothers. Results suggest that following a birth, most unmarried mothers perceived the availability of support, but these support perceptions disintegrated somewhat in subsequent years. Mothers who appeared to have the greatest need for support—those without stable employment or a stable partner—experienced more rapid deterioration of their perceived safety nets than did more advantaged mothers. Future research should examine network composition and conditions for support provision among the most vulnerable single mothers and should consider how safety-net stability influences maternal and child health and well-being.     

Perceived social support,perception of competence,and hope among Chinese children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a Chinese context: Children's perspective

This paper reports on the results of a study (n = 113 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) that examined the effects of the children's perception of the social support (PSS) they receive from their mothers, fathers, teachers, and friends on their sense of competence and hope. PSS explained 13% of the children's overall sense of competence and 4% of their sense of hope. In the perspective of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the amount of maternal support, both in terms of importance and availability, was higher than that of their paternal support. However, the results of a multiple regression analysis have shown that paternal support accounted for 3% of the variance in the children's overall sense of competence and 5% in the variance of their physical competence. PSS from teachers had significantly explained 5%, 4%, and 4% of the variance in the children's overall, social, and physical competence, respectively. The PSS from friends significantly explained 7% of the variance in the children's cognitive competence and 4% of the variance in hope. Theoretical and clinical implications of the study are discussed.     

Paternal and Maternal Experiences in Caring for Chinese Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Hong Kong

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study that (i) identified parental stress and competence, parents’ perception of their children's attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, and the parent‐child relationship in caring for children with ADHD; (ii) compared paternal and maternal experiences in these areas; and (iii) examined the effect of children's ADHD behavior on paternal and maternal experiences in Hong Kong Chinese parents. Seventy‐two (59.5%) mothers and 49 (40.5%) fathers participated in the study, in which data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The results showed that: (i) mothers’ level of parental stress was higher than fathers’, but paternal and maternal competence in child‐rearing did not significantly vary; (ii) mothers perceived the child's ADHD behavior more seriously than fathers; (iii) both mothers and fathers had positive perceptions of their parent‐child relationship; and (iv) gender, employment, ADHD symptoms, and parental satisfaction explained the significant variance in parental stress but did not explain the significant variance in parental competence. Implications for social work practice and service development are discussed.     

Satisfaction of basic psychological needs in an interdependence model of fathers’ own aspirations and those of their adolescent children

Anchored in self‐determination theory (SDT), we used a sample of 310 Japanese father‐child dyads (fathers Mage = 47.95; children Mage = 14.98, 50% female), to investigate: (a) the structure of aspirations in a Japanese sample, (b) the association between fathers’ own intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations and the aspirations reported by their adolescent children, (c) the links between child‐reported father autonomy support and children’s self‐ reported aspirations, and (d) the associations between fathers’ own and children’s own aspirations and the basic psychological needs satisfaction of both fathers and children. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated acceptable fit for the theorized model of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations specified by SDT. Correlation analysis revealed positive associations between the aspirations of fathers’ and those endorsed by their children, which were not moderated by father’s autonomy support. Actor‐partner interdependence modeling indicated that when fathers were relatively intrinsic in their orientations, basic psychological need satisfaction was higher for both themselves and their children. These findings highlight the relevance of intrinsic and extrinsic aspirations to the well‐being of youth and the interplay between fathers’ and children’s aspirations, suggesting that both fathers’ intrinsic aspirations and parenting styles are associated with children’s basic psychological needs satisfaction.     

Predicting Material Hardship Among Former Welfare-to-Work Participants: An Income- and Resource-Packaging Model

ABSTRACT

Material hardship is of concern because it refers to physical deprivation related to meeting the basic needs of food, housing, utilities, and other items. This study tests a predictive income- and resource-packaging model of material hardship using survey data collected from 459 former welfare-to-work program participants. Logistic regression results show that receiving social support in the form of living rent-free decreased the odds for experiencing material hardship. The predictors of working in the informal economy, being sanctioned while on public assistance, having mental health issues, and having transportation problems all increased the odds for experiencing material hardship. The measures of formal employment income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families income, work-first program participation, sharing living expenses, monetary social support, and assistance from nonprofit organizations were unrelated to predicting material hardship experiences. Policymakers interested in improving conditions for needy families should question the use of sanctions and carefully monitor material hardship among those sanctioned. Future programs and future research should consider the extent to which low-income women participate in the informal economy to make ends meet, rely on social networks to live rent-free, and struggle with poor health and transportation problems.     

Parenting and children’s negative emotionality,self‐regulation,and academic skills: The moderating role of fathers’ residency

We examined whether fathers’ residency modified the associations among mothers’ supportiveness, father involvement, children’s negative emotionality during toddlerhood and children’s academic skills in pre‐kindergarten via children’s self‐regulation. Participants were 2,291 mothers (M_age = 23.24 years) and children (M_age = 14.99 months at Wave 1; 50.7% girls) in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Results revealed distinctive associations by fathers’ residency: self‐regulation mediated the association between mothers’ supportiveness and academic skills only in resident‐father‐families. Self‐regulation mediated the association between negative emotionality and academic skills only in nonresident‐father‐families. The findings highlight the family processes of mothers, fathers, and children in low‐income family contexts that contribute to children’s academic skills, and how those family processes may vary by fathers’ residency status.     

Strengthening Social Programs to Promote Economic Stability During Childhood

Economic instability has increased in recent decades and is higher for families with low incomes and Black families. Such instability is thought to be driven primarily by precarious work and unstable family structure. In addition, the social safety net has become less of a stabilizing force for low-income families, in part because benefits are often tied to employment and earnings. Too much change in economic circumstances may disrupt investments in children, parenting practices, and family routines—particularly if the economic changes are unpredictable, undesired, or not part of upward mobility. Given the considerable evidence that economic circumstances affect child health and development, economic stability can and should be an important goal of multiple policy domains. In this report, we describe economic instability, review the pertinent theories for considering how economic instability might matter to children, and describe ideas for policies that could reduce or moderate instability. We include policies that reduce instability in earnings, use public assistance to stabilize income or reduce material hardship, or enhance parents' capacity to deal with or avoid instability.     

A prevalence study of children with imprisoned fathers: annual and lifetime estimates

In Australia, data are not routinely collected on the parental status of prisoners, so there are no official nationwide figures and few State‐based figures. The current study uses data collected in Queensland over a six‐month period to estimate how many Queensland children, in one year and in their entire childhood, experience paternal imprisonment. Additional data were collected relating to the provision of care for the child prior to, and during, their father's imprisonment. Participants were 303 imprisoned fathers (51 per cent of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin) who reported a total of 753 children. Using these data and population statistics, it was estimated that 0.8 per cent of children in Queensland experienced paternal imprisonment in one year while approximately four per cent experience paternal imprisonment in their lifetime. Indigenous children were nine times more likely to experience paternal imprisonment in one year and four times more likely to experience paternal imprisonment in their lifetime compared to non‐Indigenous children. Approximately half of the children (48 per cent) lived with their father prior to his imprisonment. Results are discussed in relation to whether children were living with their father as well as the possibility of pre‐existing risks in children's lives that may subsequently interact with their father's imprisonment.     

‘His mam,my dad,my girlfriend,loads of people used to bring him up’: the value of social support for (ex) offender fathers

This research analyses key findings from qualitative research conducted with (ex) offender fathers and their probation officers. This paper focuses on the critical role of family and social support for (ex) offender fathers who seek to build and maintain relationships with their children. The research reported in this paper shows that the men receive social support, both formal and informal from a wide ranging and complex network of family, friends and practitioners, which facilitates and enables their commitment to fathering. Drawing on social support theory, I argue that identification of support networks recognizes the productive possibilities of vulnerable families which constitute a source of strength and connection to be nurtured in contexts of adversity. This strengths‐based paradigm advocates the need to identify and facilitate family, friendship and professional networks in the context of social work with offenders and their families.     

Paternal Risk Factors for Child Maltreatment and Father's Participation in a Primary Prevention Program in Germany

ABSTRACT

Across the globe, the research into the influence of paternal risk and protective factors on the family, as well as on the involvement of fathers in family-related interventions, is lacking. This study utilized 506 families and examined the characteristics of fathers in psychosocially stressed families and associations between paternal risk factors (PRFs: mental health disorder, physical health disorder, young paternity, unemployment, absence of father) and family risk factors (FRFs: problematic financial situation, problematic housing situation, social isolation) for child maltreatment. The identification of PRFs and FRFs was carried out using information from consultations with social education workers and from a risk inventory completed by the mothers. The data analysis revealed an increased incidence of economic problems found in families with fathers having mental health issues, fathers under the age of 22, and unemployed fathers or single mothers. Other factors such as social isolation occurred more often in families with a single mother. The present study underlines the importance of a father's involvement for young families. Future research and program recommendations should always systematically include the father's role in family-related interventions.     

Facilitating Factors for Nonresident Parents' Financial Provisions for Children in Hong Kong

This study examines the facilitating factors for nonresident parents' financial provisions for children among the Chinese in Hong Kong. It found that financial provisions from nonresident parents are subject to economic and ideological as well as relational factors. The results call for the enhancement of active parenting of nonresident parents in a context of cooperative and supportive parental relationship, as well as for adequate employment support to poor nonresident parents. Findings of the study support the recent law reform on creating a less adversarial divorce system that is more conducive to a culture of settlement and cooperation, and on a shifted emphasis from parental rights to both rights and responsibilities of divorced parents.     

Within‐ and between‐individual variation in fathers’ emotional expressivity in Chinese families: Contributions of children’s emotional expressivity and fathers’ emotion‐related beliefs and perceptions

Parental emotion socialization is a dynamic process encompassing moment‐to‐moment fluctuations in parents’ emotional displays and responsiveness. This study attempted to examine the within‐ and between‐individual variation in fathers’ emotional expressivity during a real‐time father–child interaction in Chinese families. Eighty‐five children (M_age = 7.58 years, SD = 0.50 years, 47.1% boys) from east China and their biological fathers participated in the study. Fathers’ and children’s emotional expressivity were observed during a problem‐solving interaction task. Fathers’ beliefs about children’s negative emotions and fathers’ perceptions of their children’s emotion regulation ability were assessed via self‐report questionnaires. Results showed that (1) At the within‐individual level, fathers’ and children’s emotional expressivity covariated with each other in concurrent intervals when controlling for their emotional expressivity in previous intervals; fathers’ emotional expressivity gradually became less positive over time whereas children’s emotional expressivity did not change significantly over time; (2) At the between‐individual level, fathers’ perceptions of children’s emotion regulation accounted for the between‐individual variance in the dynamics of fathers’ emotional expressivity. These findings chart the dynamics of paternal emotion expressivity during father–child interactions and shed light on the relevant roles of children’s emotional expressivity and fathers’ emotion‐related beliefs and perceptions.     

The Semantically Reciprocating Robot: Adult Influences on Children's Early Conversational Skills

Two-year-old children's conversational replies were observed in two social contexts: (a) with a partner who consistently responded to each of their utterances by semantically reciprocating and commenting briefly on their topic; or (b) with a partner who also consistently replied to each of their utterances but did not semantically reciprocate their topic. Children were significantly more likely to reply to a partner who maintained their topic. Given that a child replied, the verbal responses in the semantic reciprocation group were also more likely to have a topic-comment structure characteristic of more advanced conversational skills. These experimental data confirm previous correlational evidence suggesting that children are sensitive to semantic reciprocation during the early stages of verbal communicative development, and they support recent arguments suggesting that the adult's use of expansions scaffolds the child's tendency to use predicative, topic-comment replies…and perhaps advances the child's understanding of the adult partner as an attentional/intentional mental agent.     

Maternal and paternal reactions to child sadness predict children's psychosocial outcomes: A family‐centered approach

Parents' reactions to children's emotions shape their psychosocial outcomes. Extant research on emotion socialization primarily uses variable‐centered approaches. This study explores family patterns of maternal and paternal responses to children's sadness in relation to psychosocial outcomes in middle childhood. Fifty‐one families with 8‐ to 12‐year‐old children participated. Mothers and fathers reported their reactions to children's sadness and children's social competence and psychological adjustment. Cluster analyses revealed three family patterns: Supportive (high supportive and low non‐supportive reactions from both parents), Not Supportive (low supportive reactions from both parents), and Father Dominant (high paternal supportive and non‐supportive reactions, low maternal supportive and non‐supportive reactions). Supportive families had children with higher social competence and more internalizing symptoms whereas Father Dominant families had children with lower social competence and fewer internalizing symptoms. Not Supportive families had children with average social competence and fewer internalizing symptoms. Findings are discussed in relation to the “divergence model” which proposes that a diverse range of parental responses to children's sadness, rather than a uniformly supportive approach, may facilitate children's psychosocial adjustment.     

Parasympathetic Regulation and Parental Socialization of Emotion: Biopsychosocial Processes of Adjustment in Preschoolers

Variations in parents' emotion socialization have been linked to children's social competence (SC) and behavior problems, but parental influences do not act independently of children's characteristics. A biopsychosocial model was tested, in which children's parasympathetic regulation of cardiac function and paternal and maternal socialization of negative emotions were examined as joint predictors of young children's SC and behavior problems at daycare and preschool. Mothers and fathers responded differently to children's emotions, and cardiac vagal tone moderated the relations between parents' emotion socialization and children's behavior in early childcare settings. Both maternal and paternal emotion socialization strategies were more strongly associated with preschool adjustment for children with relatively less parasympathetic self‐regulatory capacities than for more self‐regulated children. Paternal reactions to children's anger, and maternal responses to children's sadness and fear, were particularly closely tied to variations in SC and internalizing and externalizing problems.